A taste of things to come

It is sunny today and 50-something degrees. So we headed to the play ground with some wonderful friends to soak up all we could out of this day.

My friend has 2 kids who are very close in age to my elders (her daughter and Jacob are like 4 days apart) so they ran, they played, they hid-out in a play house, they turned over picnic tables, they played on the swings, basically, they had a blast.

It was a little chilly with the wind but in the sun it was glorious, the kind of glorious that makes you want to linger for a large period of time and when things aren't so glorious you think about this particular time that it was glorious. It was that kind of glorious.

Haley's kids are great which makes playing with them even more fun. Her kids are happy and they just love life, you know, they just enjoy everything they're doing and they do it with such excitement. They're real kids, the kind that we want our kids to be. They're excited about little pleasures and nature and a visiting cat on the play ground. They're really neat.

I know my kids had a great time and I really did too. It was such a great little taste to remind us that spring is not far away! If I could say that out loud right now I would be yelling with excitement and you would have to hold on to something to keep from being blown away. Just so you know.

Haley home schools her kids and I have a feeling she'll be a very valuable asset to my homeschooling adventure. She let me borrow a book called The Ultimate Book of Home Schooling Ideas by Linda Dobson which I plan to start reading after I finish writing... its calling me! I think Haley and I have always had similar parenting styles, if you could even call it a 'style', but it encourages me that she feels so confident about her kids education. I'm sure that as I research and ask questions I will eventually embrace this adventure.

So I feel like with spring fever bubbling up from with in me and new adventures around the corner, this year is going to be the best yet. And let me tell you people I've had some great years!!

Today

Today i went in to put my elders to bed and this is what I found:

Precious. They love each other. Our "rest time" in this house is comedy. Anna sleeps (like a rock), I get things done or depending on the business of the day, I rest myself and Zaya and Jacob play their hearts out in their room. They don't fight, they just play, because they know that if they don't work it out and I have to intervene it means nap time. No good in the life of an almost 3 and 4 year old.

Lately I have been toying with the thought of homeschooling. I don't feel like I'm a "homeschooler". I'm not that good. I always feel like if I go that route I'll miss out on something in their education. But let me say that our lives are BUSY.

Every morning of the week we are off to do something, except for Wednesday. Wednesday is our day of rest... sort of. It is the day that we try to cram in everything we should have done through out the rest of the week. So home schooling seems like it may free us up a little bit and give us more family time. And I do love family time.

So today I set up the art easel with paints and paper and let the littles have at it. They loved it. They painted, they enjoyed one another. And all the while I was sitting at the table writing a curriculum that we could possible use one day and Anna was eating strawberries.

Maybe we'll give it a go over the summer and just see what happens! Maybe we'll love it and they'll love it and we'll get to go to the zoo again... dang we miss the zoo.

Oh, and P.S.- I have a camera people!!!! A real camera! Good-bye point and shoot! Now as I escape the confines of the kiddie pool and slip into the vast ocean of real photography, I'm a little nervous and playing cautiously. But let me say this is an adventure and it is a GREAT one. My dreams are coming true!